How to Enable and Use Jira Dependencies

What is a Dependency?

A dependency is a link that can exist between two work items (feature or user story) mapped on to your Kendis Board and is represented as a dotted line. Dependencies can be created between:

Two Features
Two User Stories
A Feature and a User Story
A User Story and a Feature

How to Enable Jira Dependencies?

To be able to create Jira Dependencies in Kendis, you need to enable them from the Board Settings. This can be done by following these steps:

Go to Board Settings
1. How to go to Board Settings? This can be done in two ways.
  1. Click on the Board Settings Button at the top right corner of the board.
  2. OR
  3. Hover on to the Features List and then click on the “Settings icon” to open Board Settings.
Once opening the Board Settings, click on the Additional Settings Tab.
Click on the check box to “Enable Jira Dependencies”
1. After clicking on the check box there will be a drop down displayed with the issue link types that can be selected and then used as link types for your JIRA dependencies in Kendis.

How to create a JIRA Dependency?

A Jira Dependency can be created in 2 ways. For both of these methods, the Dependency Creation Popup will open.

Note: This method will be the same when creating dependencies from a Feature or a User Story.

Using Drag and Drop

Hover to the “Red Dot” for features or the “Purple Dot” for stories on to the corner of your chosen work item.

Once you click on it, keep the click pressed and you will be able to create a dotted line which can be dragged from your selected work item.

With the click pressed, drop the line on to the dot situated at the corner of your desired work item. Once this is done it will open the Dependency Creation popup.
By clicking on the “Create By Search” button

When you are on your Kendis Board, click on the red dot for features or purple dot for user stories, located at the corner of the work item and a popup will open.

Click on the “Create by Search” button. This will open the Dependency Creation popup.

Dependency Creation Popup

After doing so, a pop up will appear. Read about all the sections and options needed listed below to save your dependency:

Creator and Receiver of the Dependency

Creator

This will be the feature or user story from which a dependency line is started.

When “Creating by Search”, select your work item from the drop down. You can choose to create dependencies between Feature Feature or Story Story. You can select multiple work items to create dependencies with.

Receiver

This will be the feature or user story at which the dependency line is ended.

Link Type

The link type drop down will consist of options that will determine the relationship of your dependency. It will consist of 5 default link types that are available in Kendis which are as follows:

Depends on
Associated with
Blocked by
Is blocking
Links to

After you have enabled Jira Dependencies, the drop down that displays the link types will be divided into 2 sections. The first section will have all the selected Jira Dependency link types that exist in your Jira Project and will be brought from there and made available in the drop down. The second section of the drop down will continue showing all the Kendis link types.

Direction

This dropdown will have 3 options.

(--->) Represents a dependency from Creator to Receiver
(<---) Represents a dependency from Receiver to Creator
Represents a dependency with no direction and there will be no arrow when a dependency is created (---)

Summary

This will allow you to add a short description of the dependency.

Description

This will allow you to add a short description of the dependency.

Status

This will consist of a list of statuses that can be set for your dependency and provide a quick understanding of the dependency.

Raised On

The date on which the dependency was created.

Target Resolution Date

This is the date on which you plan to resolve the dependency.

Responsible

Select the user who can perform the needed actions on the dependency. The drop down will show all the users that are added in Kendis.

Reporter

Select the user who has created the dependency. By default, the user that is logged in and has created the dependency will be selected but it can also be changed. The drop down will show all the users that are added in Kendis.

Conversations

In this section you can add comments or any useful information that can be used to discuss the condition of the dependency. You can also tag other users using the “@” key.

Watchers

You can add users which can be notified of the actions or activities done regarding the dependencies. These can be users that are added in Kendis and can only be added when a dependency is created and saved.

Click Save

After you have added all the sufficient information, click save to create your dependency.

Delete Link

Dependencies can be deleted. This option will become available after you have created and saved a dependency. Follow the steps below to delete the dependency link:

You can open the Dependency Pop up with one of these ways
- Click on the Dependency Line
- Click on the Red counter for features or the Purple Dot for User Stories, of the Dependency on your Feature or User Story
- A new popup will open. From there click on the “Edit” icon
Hover to the end of the Dependency Creation Popup and you will find the “Delete Link” option at the bottom left corner of the popup.
Click on “Delete Link”
A popup will be displayed that will ask you to proceed or to cancel the deletion process.
You can choose to delete the link from JIRA. The check box will appear in the deletion popup that will be selected to delete the dependency link.

Different Colors of Dependencies

After your dependency has been created, there will be a specific color that describes the status of your dependency. The following guide will help you distinguish between what each color suggests.

These colors will be based on the dependency workflow that you have selected.

Editing Created Dependency

There are two ways to edit dependencies that have been created. This can be done by two different methods.

Clicking on the Dependency Line
1. This will open the Dependency Creation Popup
Clicking on the Red Dot for Features or the Purple Dot for User Stories
1. This will open the Dependency Popup. From here click on the pencil icon to open the Dependency Creation Popup.

How to Track Jira Dependency in Kendis?

Kendis provides you with an easy way to track all of your dependencies. This can be done in 2 ways.

By clicking on the Red Counter for Features or the Purple Counter for User Stories of the Dependency

A pop up will open as displayed in the image below. This popup consists of the following functionality.
1. Number of Total Dependencies: The counter in the brackets shows the total number of dependencies that exist on the Board.
2. Information of the Dependency from the Work Item that has been accessed: This will consist of the following information:
  1. Name of Team: The label of your team’s name will be displayed here. When hovering over the label, it will show the full name of the team in a tooltip.
  2. Sprint or Iteration name: This badge shows the sprint or iteration in which the work item is located. When hovering over the label, it will show the full name of the sprint or iteration in a tooltip.
  3. Creator of the Dependency: This shows the title of the work item (feature or user story) along with its ID.
3. Filter Dependency View: You have 4 options to choose from:
  1. Feature: This will only show the dependencies that have been created among features. This option will only be available with Feature Dependencies and will not be available when accessing User Stories
  2. User Story: This will only show the dependencies that have been created among user stories.
  3. Visible in Phoenix: This will only show the dependencies that have been created and can only be viewed in the Phoenix Board view. These dependencies are the ones that can exist between features or user stories
  4. Not Visible as Lines: These dependencies are the ones that consist of the creator or receiver that are not present on the board as one of the work items may be present in the Features List.
4. Information about the Dependency:
  1. Dependency ID: This is the ID of the Dependency. When this is clicked the dependency creation popup will open.
  2. Sprint and Iteration Labels: The label of the sprint will be shown and when hovering on the badge the tooltip will be shown that shows the sprint and iteration name.
  3. Teams: The badge of the team will be shown and when hovering on the badge the tooltip will be shown that shows the team name.
  4. Dependency Line: The dependency line is shown with the color and its direction. When hovering on the line, the status of the dependency is shown in a tooltip.
  5. Work Items
    Titles of the Work Items: You can see the titles of the work items that have the dependency between them, along with their IDs. Once these IDs are clicked, they will redirect to their origin by opening in a new tab.
    Status: The colored dot shows the status of the work item. When you hover the mouse on the dot, the status of the work item is shown in a tooltip.
    Name of the Link Type: The JIRA link type that you have selected will be displayed here along with the JIRA logo that indicates that it is a JIRA dependency.
  6. Dependency Summary
    This is where your Dependency Summary will be shown.
  7. Dependency Status
    This will display the status of the dependency that has been set.
  8. Resolution Date
    This will display the resolution date that was set when the dependency was created.
By clicking on the “More” button on the top of the board

When you click on the More button, a menu will appear and from there click on the option to select Dependencies.

This view provides you with more comprehensive results as multiple filters can be used together to provide accurate results. Below you will find all the details regarding the elements of functionality that build up the Dependencies tracking view.

Filter Area
1. Team Filters
  1. Creator Team: Selecting this option will show:
    The team that has work items that are creators of a dependency.
  2. Receiver Team: Selecting this option will show:
    The team that has work items which is the receiver of a dependency.
2. Sprint
  1. Creator Sprint: Selecting this option will show:
    The team that has work items that are creators of a dependency.
  2. Receiver Sprint: Selecting this option will show:
    The team that has work items that are receivers of a dependency.
3. Resolution Date
  1. Target Resolution Date (In Ascending)
    Filters and shows the Dependencies with their resolution dates in ascending order
  2. Target Resolution Date (In Descending)
    Filters and shows the Dependencies with their resolution dates in descending order
Search for Dependencies
1. You can search for all the dependencies that are made on your Kendis Board. You can search by title, ID, feature or user story.
Responsible
1. This will show the drop down for all the users that are set as Responsible when you are creating the Dependency. This will search from all the users that are present in Kendis.
Status
1. This will display a drop down from where you can select from the statuses that have been set for the dependencies.
More Filters
1. This option will provide you with the ability to add more filters to the filter area that can be used to provide you with more depth for your dependencies. A drop down will be presented with the following options.
  1. Creator Sprint
  2. Receiver Sprint
  3. Creator Team
  4. Receiver Team
  5. Reporter
  6. Creator Item Type
  7. Receiver Item Type
  8. Raised On
  9. Updated On
  10. By Color Type
  11. Target Resolution Date
  12. Link Type
2. After selecting one of these filters, they will appear as separate drop downs in the filter area. This will further allow you to select your required option.
Beneath the filter area, you will be able to see more filters. Below you will find what each filter is capable of.
All(): This view will show all the dependencies created and present on the board which can be:
1. Feature to Feature
2. Feature to User Story
3. User Story to Feature
4. User Story to User Story
The numbers in the brackets show (Done Number of Dependencies / Total Number of Dependencies )
By Feature(): This will only show the dependencies that have been created among features. The numbers in the brackets show (Done Number of Dependencies / Total Number of Dependencies )
By Story(): This will only show the dependencies that have been created among user stories. The numbers in the brackets show (Done Number of Dependencies / Total Number of Dependencies )
Phoenix Only(): This will only show the dependencies that have been created and can only be viewed in the Phoenix Board view. These dependencies can exist between features or user stories. The numbers in the brackets show (Done Number of Dependencies / Total Number of Dependencies )
Not Visible as Lines(): These dependencies are the ones that consist of the creator or receiver that are not present on the board as one of the work items may be present in the Features List. The numbers in the brackets show (Done Number of Dependencies / Total Number of Dependencies )
Restore Missing Dependencies
1. If you have deleted a dependency, do not worry. They are safe. By clicking on the Restore Missing Dependencies button, you will be presented with a list view that will show all the dependencies that have been deleted and you will have the option to restore them. Once restored, they will appear in the Dependencies list view.
Export as CSV or Excel
1. You can export the list of your dependencies as an excel or a csv file onto your computer.